I Remember Days Or At Least I Try
by Alithea
Summary: An old woman talks to an unexpected visitor about the past. Light shoujoai content. Kirika/Mirielle


Title: I Remember Days Or At Least I Try

**Title: I Remember Days Or At Least I Try  
Rating: PG  
Noir and its characters are not in anyway owned or created by me. I'm just borrowing  
Pairing: Some light, very very light Kirika and Mirielle  
Author's Note: This being reposted after a long absence. **

I've been expecting you. I must say I'm surprised it took this long for you to come. Well, don't just stand there come in and shut the door. Nasty weather out there this time of year, very cold and chilly, bad for my hands.

Hmmm… Oh, you must forgive me; my manners have gotten bad over the years. Wipe your feet please. The garden is muddy and full of fallen olives. They stick to your shoes and leave little black stains on the carpet. Now, now no need to rush these things. Can I get you a cup of tea? I just put some water to boil.

Yes, a nice cup of tea to warm us up, and we can talk for bit before you have to leave. I have Orange Pekoe and Earl Grey.

Earl Grey then, I'll have the Orange Pekoe. If you wouldn't mind helping an old lady out the cups are-

Thank you, thank you, glad to see you haven't lost your manners. It happens you know, working as you do, and more often than I am sure you realize. But then I guess it takes some age to realize just what can be lost and regained if one gives life time to run its course. Any cup is fine, just pick one and place it on the counter. The water will be done soon. We can wait for the whistle in the parlor.

Forgive me, I'm laughing. It's not at you it's just having a parlor really does remind me how old I am. I was young once you know, well you must or you wouldn't be here. I was young once and foolish and brutal and… Well, I'm sure you were told. I'm sure you have everything planned right to the last details.

Good, good, I was the same way. Mustn't let anything go to chance even when drinking tea with a nice old lady like me eh?

Well sit down, sit down. Oh I like this house, don't you? I always have. She picked it out you know, she always had a sense for elegance and style. Hmm what's that? Oh the painting yes that's her there and me as well. Very young back then, she and I were in our twenties. That was painted just after we went into hiding. Oh you know we still took occasional jobs but nothing big, nothing grand and always, I would say, for a good cause. She was good at that you know… picking the right job for the right reason.

You know, you look very much like some I once knew. You have the same eyes, very dark and distant with tint of hate mixed in. Don't take offense, but you shouldn't carry around that kind of darkness with you. I know it can be hard as your work is seated within darkness itself, but there is light out there. Hard to find sure, but it is there and easily found if you look in the right place.

Ah the rain is picking up…nice big storm first of the year. Should make for an excellent winter. Oh good there's the water, I'll just go and-

Okay if you insist, you get the tea. There are some cookies in the jar there and sugar on the counter. Have you ever had a tea party in the dark? Under the light of a full moon?

No?

It's a beautiful thing. I remember it very well that tea party. It was…I suppose a little odd, but it was fun. She was there and so was the person you remind me of. The spoons are in the upper right hand drawer near the stove dear.

Yes, I do have good hearing for someone of my age. But then, I, and I'm sure you do to, live or die by my hearing. You never know when the lights will go out and you'll have to find someone in the dark. Oh the faintest sound will always give it away. Always…yes…hmmm…

Hmm? I'm sorry was I asleep? Oh good I'd hate to fall asleep. I don't get visitors often especially from people like you who would understand me so well. Thank you dear, smells delicious. I'll just let it cool on the table if you don't mind.

You're watching my hands. You're trying to decide if it's an act of if they really do shake like that. They started doing that not soon after she left… arthritic too… my hands. Well, I suppose they'll never be what they used to…never be clean…never be….

Sorry. I drift, think to hard and don't say anything to explain. How's your tea?

Good. Good…

…You make a good cup. It tastes just delightful. Did you want any cookies? No? Suit yourself then.

What's your name if you don't mind my asking? I'll understand if you- Oh! I see. On your birth certificate and everything? You must have had interesting parents that they gave you such a name.

Noir… Who am I? I am Noir… Who are you? You are Noir. Who was she? She was Noir…

Really, they picked it because of the color of your eyes. Yes, yes I can see that. Your eyes are very black, very dark. I see that. Funny, you choose this profession and to have that name. But I'm sure you know… she and I…we used that name once for our business.

Yes, we used that name and…well…

The rain is dying down. Walk an old woman around her garden will you?

Let me get my shawl. Pink. An old lady pink, but she liked me in that color. She did…and white.

No, leave it unlocked. I don't really get visitors at all anymore you know, no fear of someone breaking in and stealing. Nothing anyone would really want in there anyway, just old paintings that never got hung up, and old paints. Maybe someone would be interested in the guns I have hidden under the stairs. Maybe you'd like them. They're considered antiques now you know.

The cold air feels good on a warm cheek… Wery windy though, hope the cat remembers to come in. I know, typical old lady living alone with a cat, but you know better, eh? You know I'm not so typical.

Everything is damp. Everything is cool and green and crisp. Oh I liked this country the minute I set foot on the soil. Oh we were always the odd couple in the village. The French woman and the Japanese Lady that's what they called us. The pair on the hill. That was what we were. No one minded us and we didn't mind anybody. We would go to the pub once a month and drink a bottle of Scotch in remembrance of those that had fallen by our own hands or by the mere fact that they had known us once. Get in a stupor and talk about heading toward the light.

We both lost people you see. We both had stains on our hands we couldn't wash away and I always thought mine were far deeper than hers, but then maybe I never understood her.

Let's walk over there. There is good place for our good-byes. It over looks the ocean. She liked the ocean. She liked to sit and watch the waves roll up and hear the sound. She would make fun of me and say it reminded her of Costa Rica.

Oh yes she's here. I made sure she could always be in her favorite spot. It's almost a travesty to use that old stone as the marker, but somehow it's fitting. I think someone once said it was over two hundred years old, that stone with the two maidens yielding swords. I think it's much older. I miss her you know. I loved her very much. And she was never good at saying it but I know she loved me too. It's important…love. If you find someone-

Really a partner? That's good dear, that's very nice. You should tell her how you feel if you haven't already. Not sure how she'd take it,really? What a shame? Hmm oh I uh…wrote her a letter and told how dear she was to me. I hadn't expected her to care. I hadn't…

But she went out and looked for me. She saved me, and I think in saving me she saved part of herself. That's when we decided to go away. That's the moment we had to try and leave that life behind us…but… Well, a life like that… You can't leave a life like that after you've buried yourself in it so deeply. After being raised in it and hurt by it. No, it stays with you, dark stains that never seem to come off your hands. She knew that. I knew that. And knowing it made it easier to at least try and put it aside. Putting it away knowing that one-day it would return and end us. Never forget that, this life ends eventually. There is always a time for old debts to be repaid.

Ah... I haven't heard that sound in a long time. Sounds like a good gun. Semi-automatic? No? My ears must be going.

When you go back to them? Tell them for me, tell Soldats that there is still light and one day the true Noir will come back to put them in their place.

You seem like a good person. You seem that way even though your eyes are so dark and you look like she used to look.

All right then…

I'm coming home to you… Mirielle-

BANG

End….


End file.
